Notomastus lobatus

• Domain: Eukaryota

• Kingdom: Animalia

• Subkingdom: Bilateria

• Branch: Protostomia

• Infrakingdom: Lophotrochozoa

• Superphylum: Eutrochozoa

• Phylum: Annelida

• Class: Polychaeta

• Family: Capitellidae

• Genus: Notomastus

• Specific name: lobatus

• Notomastus is a sediment dwelling marine worm found in mud and muddy sands from North Carolina to the Gulf of Mexico and Southern California to Mexico.

• 4-Bromophenol, 2,4-dibromophenol, and 2,4,6-tribromophenol are found in N. lobatus and the sediments surrounding its burrow, these compounds are produced by this and some other marine worm species. One theory for why N. lobatus produces the bromophenols is because do to bromophenols toxicity it would deter predators

Eurypterids

• Kingdom: Animalia

• Phylum: Arthropoda

• Subphylum: Chelicerata

• Class: Merostomata

• Order: Eurypterida

• Often called Sea Scorpions Eurypterids are an extinct group of mostly carnivorous marine arthropods in the order Eurypterida with some moving to fresh water around the Pennsylavanian.

• They first appeared during the Ordovician and survived until the end of the Permian, around 212 MA later!

• The group went extinct during the P-Tr extinction event in which 96% of all marine species went extinct

• Eurypterids had a carapace consisting of twelve segments and 6 appendages; the mouth claws, the 2^nd to the 4^th appendage were placed at the front of the body and covered in spines, the fifth was also used in food capture but was not covered in spines, the sixth acted as a claw in the benthic species and a paddle in the swimming.

• The dorsal section of the eurypterid had two laterally placed compound eyes and two ocelli in the center.

• Eurypterids are commonly around 8 inches long but some species like jaekelopterus got up to over 8 feet.

• Jaekelopterus thought to have gotten to be around 8.2 feet in length, lived in fresh water in rivers and lakes. The second largest was the sea scorpion Pterygotus who reached sizes around 7.7 feet the size of a crocodile

Trilobites

• Kingdom: Animalia

• Phylum: Arthropoda

• Subphylum: Trilobitomorpha

• Class: Trilobita

• Trilobites first appeared during the Early Cambrian period around 526 MA all trilobite orders went extinct during the Devonian except for the order of Proetida which lasted until the end of the Permian about 250 MA

• Due to Trilobites high diversity and exoskeleton (which it shed periodically) there is extensive evidence of this class in the fossil record, we have found over 20,000 species making up 10 orders 150 families and 5,000 genera. They are mostly benthic organisms.

• Trilobites were solely marine animals with a feeding niche that varied from predator and filter feeder, to scavengers. Some are even believed to have had a symbiotic relationship with certain forms of bacteria

• Trilobites were an important prey item for many organisms such as Eurypterids, Nautiloids and Anomalocaris

Horse-shoe Crab

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthopoda
Subphylum: Cheilcerata
Class: Merostomata
Subclass: Xiphosura
Order: Xiphosurida
Family: Limulidae
Genus: Limulus
Species: Polyphemus

Horseshoe Crabs are Arthropods, that live in shallow oceans with with sandy or muddy bottoms. Horseshoe crabs started to appear in the fossil record during the Ordovician period and has changed little in the 450 MA since.